Editorial: Sandy Neese

To the Editor,

We live on West Sears Road, a beautiful residential street in Cheatham County. W. Sears is a dead end road, so there’s one way in and one way out. There are hills and hollows and streams all around us. And there are 17+ families who enjoy the beauty of living on or below the West Sears ridge. We became aware of an impending cell tower to be built on our road by the posting of a change-of-zoning meeting that was to be held last month. This change of designation of a single lot on West Sears from “residential” to “commercial” upset us all, as I’m sure you readers would be upset to learn that your own road was targeted by a private company wanting to put a cell tower in your residentially-zoned neighborhood.

We emailed the members of the zoning commission of our concerns and were told there was nothing that could be done to stop the change of zoning because the tower was “for the public good”. There are homes next to and across the road from the tower site, and yet we have to fight to try to keep this from happening. Common sense should prevail here.

The residents who would be directly impacted by a tower fail (check YouTube or Google for images of falling/burning towers) seem to have been excluded from the “public good” criteria. It is certainly not for the public good to risk putting a tower in an area surrounded by homes when there are plenty of uninhabited ridge top locations in South Cheatham Co. In an emergency, families would be cut off from emergency services and from ingress and egress to their homes, which in all likelihood would be damaged by a cell tower fail or a generator fire.

The ridge where the tower would be located sustains high winds in storms that have recently uprooted 200 year-old trees, downed power lines, isolated residents and caused an incredible amount of property damage, but fortunately, no loss of life – yet.

The SCNP Society, a 501 (c)(3) tax-exempt organization, now exists to help all of our Cheatham neighbors fight off invasive attempts by American Tower Corp. of Boston, Mass, to put towers where our safety would be in jeopardy, our property values lowered and our beloved landscape bespoiled. When cell towers threaten your neighborhoods, we will pass along what we have learned on our journey to help you in your battle! As individuals, we may not be able to draw enough attention to issues that will affect us, but if we join together, we can move mountains!